Recently in Breaking Category

Coach Jim Whitesell was 109-106 in seven seasons at Loyola. (Chris Sweda/Tribune)

By Dave Kaplan

Loyola has fired men's basketball coach Jim Whitesell after seven seasons on the job.

Whitesell's Ramblers went 16-15 this season, but finished just 7-11 in Horizon League play and in 8th place.

He compiled a 109-106 record during his time at Loyola. He previously was the head coach at Elmhurst College and Lewis University and had taken those schools to a combined six NCAA tournaments. However, he never reached postseason play during his tenure with the Ramblers. 

Loyola hired Whitesell on April 14, 2004. A 1982 graduate of Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, he had been head coach at Lewis University for the previous 12 seasons, compiling a 214-126 (.629) record there.

Patrick Kane is helped off the ice after being injured during Sunday's game. (US Presswire)

By Chris Kuc

Blackhawks winger Patrick Kane will be sidelined "upward of three weeks" with a left leg injury, coach Joel Quenneville said Tuesday.

Kane was hurt during the Hawks' 4-2 victory over the Flames on Sunday night when he fell awkwardly into the boards after a check by Calgary's Cory Sarich. Kane appeared to jam his left skate into the boards as he tried to spin away from the check.

"Kane's probably going to be out upward of three weeks," Quenneville said after practice at the United Center. "We're hoping that's the maximum. He's progressing right now."

Now that the White Sox have been awarded the waiver claim on Manny Ramirez, according to several sources, they have until Tuesday to work out a deal with the Dodgers, who may have a clearer indication by then of whether they are in or out of playoff contention.

Nothing will happen over the weekend, according to one source familiar with the proceedings, allowing both sides to assess where they are and exactly what they need. The Dodgers, who are five games out of the National League wild card race and play the Rockies this weekend, have the choice of making a deal or pulling Ramirez off waivers and keeping his $4 million-plus salary for the rest of the season.

White Sox general manager Kenny Williams refused to talk specifics about whether he had claimed Ramirez, but did say "it will be an interesting weekend, in more ways than one."

Just two weeks ago Dustin Byfuglien was celebrating winning the Stanley Cup with Patrick Kane. (Scott Strazzante/Tribune)

The other shoe has dropped.

The Blackhawks have traded wingers Dustin Byfuglien and Ben Eager, defenseman Brent Sopel and minor-league prospect Akim Aliu to the Atlanta Thrashers in exchange for the 24th overall pick in Friday's NHL Entry Draft, along with the 54th pick, veteran center Marty Reasoner, Joey Crabb and prospect Jeremy Morin.

On Thursday, the Hawks sent center Colin Fraser to the Edmonton Oilers for a sixth-round draft pick.

Rumors of trades involving the Hawks have run rampant since they won their first Stanley Cup in 49 years two weeks ago as the team is facing major salary-cap issues.

Blackhawks general manager Stan Bowman said in a conference call early Thursday that while it was difficult to part with Byfuglien, the team will look in a number of directions to try to replace his hulking presence.

"He's a special player," Bowman said. "There's a few different ways you can make up for the loss of him. He's a great player and we're certainly going to miss him

"I don't think there's one guy who can replicate what Buff did. There's more than one way to approach it. I think we saw a little bit of what Bryan Bickell can do this year in terms of being a big body. We're hoping he can play a bigger role next year.

"We're going to have to have some guys from within to emerge with some bigger roles. A guy like (Tomas) Kopecky. By the end of the playoffs he was playing on the top line. He's a big, strong guy. He's physical and goes to the net."

Phillies starting pitcher Roy Halladay is mobbed by teammates. (AP / Wilfredo Lee)

By Fred Mitchell

MIAMI -- Phillies pitcher Roy Halladay tossed the 20th perfect game in major league history Saturday night in a 1-0 victory over the Florida Marlins.

The Phillies scored on an unearned run in the third inning when Marlins centerfielder Cameron Maybin misplayed a line drive by Chase Utley, scoring Wilson Valdez.

Halladay struck out 11 Marlins en route to the historic win in front of 25,086 fans at Sun Life Stadium. The Marlins crowd gave Halladay a standing ovation as he walked out to the mound in the bottom of the ninth.

Halladay retired pinch-hitter Ronny Paulino on a ground out to third to end the game.

By Fred Mitchell

Milwaukee Bucks coach Scott Skiles says he has reached out to Vinny Del Negro since he was fired 10 days ago by the Bulls.

"I have communicated with Vinny personally and I'll leave it at that. We have known each other a long time," Skiles told the Tribune on Thursday.

Skiles declined to discuss specifically the performance of Del Negro during his first NBA head coaching stint, which netted an 82-82 record and two postseason appearances. But Skiles, who has a career coaching record of 361-335, (including a 165-172 mark in 4-plus years with the Bulls) did say this about the NBA coaching experience:

"You try to be a student of the game, and you're working hard trying to build your club and all that. Every game you learn stuff, no matter where you're coaching. So many decisions are made during the course of the game ... it's impossible to make them all correct. You have the information and you try to make the best decisions possible. You hope they work out more than they don't. You will always be learning."

Photo: Former Bulls coach Scott Skiles empathizes with Vinny Del Negro. (AP)

By Dave Van Dyck

LAS VEGAS -- No. 1 draft pick Jared Mitchell will undergo surgery on his left ankle next week and could miss what would have been his first full professional season after colliding with the wall while making a catch against the Angels.

Mitchell, who was taken from the field on a cart, was diagnosed with a posterior tib tear on the upper inside of the ankle. No recovery time will be set until after the surgery.

"Very, very bad," manager Ozzie Guillen said."It's a shame.He has to use his speed.

Reassigned to the minor league camp two days ago, Mitchell was recalled because the Sox needed players for the split squad games. He had just entered the game as a defensive replacement.

By Fred Mitchell

The Bulls trailed 28-17 to the Orlando Magic at the end of the first period Thursday night.

More troubling was the fact that All-Star guard Derrick Rose was knocked to the floor by Magic center Dwight Howard and sprained his left wrist.

He remained in the game for the final 55 seconds of the first period. But he was taken to the locker room at the end of the quarter. CSN is reporting Rose will have x-rays. He will not return tonight.

Tribune News Services

CLEVELAND -- Detroit's Rodney Stuckey was conscious and breathing on his own as he was taken to a hospital after collapsing on the Pistons' bench during a game on Friday.

The Pistons said Stuckey was taken to the Cleveland Clinic and his vital signs were stable, but was going for further testing and observation.

Stuckey was wheeled off the court on a stretcher during the third quarter after he collapsed into a trainer's arms on the bench during the game against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

Two down. One to go.

The Bears reeled in their second free agent of the day at Halas Hall as running back Chester Taylor agreed to terms Friday on a contract that likely will make him the favorite to be the starter while also weakening the backfield in Minnesota.

Taylor agreed to a $12.5 million, four-year contract with $7 million guaranteed, according to Adam Schefter of ESPN. That's not far off the figures of $14 million in total value and $8 million guaranteed that a league source said the veteran back was gunning for last night.

Taylor flew in this morning along with defensive end Julius Peppers, who is expected to reach an agreement with the team at any moment. Tight end Brandon Manumaleuna had a deal in place for a five-year contract with $6 million guaranteed and a total value of more than $17 million before he landed this morning at O'Hare.

A report that said the Bears have hired Tim Ruskell to be their director of player personnel is not accurate, according to a highly placed source.

Not yet, anyway.

The report might be more premature than outright false. Ruskell likely will be hired, probably in the very near future. It would make sense to have in place before the scouting combine kicks off on Thursday.

The Bears learned in 1999 about the dangers of announcing a hiring before it is official when they thought they had Dave McGinnis in place to be their head coach. Word leaked that McGinnis had been hired--except no deal had been struck. McGinnis was offended with how the situation had been handled, and subsequently backed out.

Ruskell stepped down from his role as president of the Seahawks late last season when it became apparent the team was not intending to bring him back in 2010. He worked with Bears general manager Jerry Angelo for 13 years; the two were the primary architects of the Bucs teams that Tony Dungy and Jon Gruden led to postseason success.

The Bears recently fired pro personnel director Bobby DePaul. If he is hired, Ruskell is expected to oversee the pro department as well as the college department, and the Bears likely will name another pro personnel director to replace DePaul.

VANCOUVER -- The United States' women's hockey team will be playing for the gold medal.

The U.S. team hammered Sweden 9-1 on Monday in the semifinals of the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

Monique LaMoureux scored three goals and six other Americans scored, while Jessie Vetter made 11 saves to pick up the win in goal.

The U.S. team, which has outscored its first four opponents by a combined 40-2, will play the winner of the other semifinal between Canada and Finland for the gold medal Thursday.

Photo: Caitlin Catow (8) celebrates her goal with Angelo Ruggiero (4) during the U.S. team's 9-1 victory Monday over Sweden. (Alex Livesey/Getty)

By Brian Hamilton

RICHMOND, British Columbia -- Holding his arms high after a huge final lap, Chicago native Shani Davis became the first man to win two gold medals in the 1,000 meter speedskating race, crossing the line in 1:08.94 at the Richmond Olympic Oval on Wednesday night.

Davis was running just fifth after 600 meters but turned on the jets to become the only participant in the race to break 1 minute 9 seconds. Thus Davis reprised his gold medal win from the 2006 Winter Games in Turin, Italy.

The U.S.'s Chad Hedrick authored a mild surprise with a bronze medal in the race with a time of 1:09.32.